Frustrated Congressional Republicans have begun to blame Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon leadership and handling of the Iran war for “hurting our chances” in the midterms.
An unnamed GOP senator made that complaint to Semafor in a report published this about how “fuming” Republicans have starting pointing the finger at Hegseth as they see their midterm election opportunities slipping away.
The report found Hegseth facing growing Republican resistance to his request for $1.5 trillion for the Pentagon next year, plus $88 billion for war costs.
“There are a lot of people that are really upset with the war in Iran and how it’s being played out. We feel it’s hurting our chances in the elections in the fall, and it seems rather haphazard,” the senator said.
“[W]hy is anybody going to blindly appropriate anything to him?” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who regrets voting to confirm Hegseth, asked Semafor.
Tillis and three other Republican senators recently voted against continuing the war, Semafor reported. Those four votes could sink the party-line budget bill most Republicans want for Pentagon money after the election, which needs 50 of the 53 Republican senators.
Semafor also reported, citing the unnamed senator, that “[i]t does not appear that Hegseth has an executable plan” to secure the hundreds of billions in extra military funding he is requesting.
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